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Boston's Morning Newsletter
Approaching this February: MBTA disruptions on the Red, Green and Orange lines
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
It’s February! Looking for a Valentine’s gift that does more? Then send Winston Flowers from WBUR. These roses will not only impress your Valentine, but they also help support our journalism, including the newsletters you depend on. (It’s a great twofer, in my opinion!) Click here to learn more about our roses and delivery options, which are 10% off through Feb. 8.
The new month also means new MBTA closures are coming around the bend, as General Manager Phil Eng and friends keep chugging along on their plan to lift all slow zones by the end of the year.
Here’s a preview of what riders should prepare for this month:
Feb. 5-14: Red Line service between Alewife and Harvard will be suspended 10 straight days, starting this coming Monday. And at 8:45 p.m. each night, the closure will be extended all the way downtown to Park Street. The rest of the Red Line will be open, but the T says riders should prepare for waits to be about two-to-four minutes longer due to the extra time it takes to turn around trains at Harvard.
- Your backup plan: Free shuttle buses will stop at all closed stations, and the T is also making commuter rail service free between Porter Square and North Station during the diversion.
Feb. 17-18: Orange Line trains will stop running all weekend between Ruggles and Forest Hills. Free shuttle buses will sub in and the commuter rail will be free that weekend between Forest Hills, Ruggles, Back Bay and South Station.
Feb. 20-March 8: A chunk of the Green Line will shut down for 18 days, starting on the Tuesday after Presidents’ Day. The closure will run west from Copley: to Babcock Street on the B branch, to Cleveland Circle on the C branch and to Brookline Hills on the D branch. (That means all downtown service will be E branch trains.)
- Free shuttles will run at most of the closed stops. It’s also worth noting no fares will be collected at Copley, Babcock Street or Brookline Hills, regardless of which way you’re headed.
Feb. 24-25: Shuttles will replace Red Line service between Harvard and Broadway for the full weekend. The commuter rail will also again be free between Porter Square and North Station.
On the commuter rail: This weekend, most of the Fitchburg line will be replaced with shuttle buses, which will drop off passengers at Alewife to connect with the Red Line. Next weekend (Feb. 10-11), all of the Lowell line will be replaced with two different shuttle bus options.
No deal: The Newton teachers strike continues today, meaning students will miss their 10th straight day of school. It also means Newton school officials will look to start scheduling makeup days over April vacation, since the school year isn’t allowed to go past June 30.
- Newton’s School Committee will vote tonight on Superintendent Anna Nolin’s plan to start scheduling school over April break, after using all the remaining weekdays in June. Depending how many more days are canceled by the strike (or snow), they may even need to make up class over February break or on Saturdays.
- Go deeper: WBUR’s Carrie Jung has more here on how the two-week strike is being received by the community.
On Beacon Hill: The Massachusetts Senate is slated to vote on — and in all likelihood pass — a sweeping gun reform bill today. The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Cindy Creem, told WBUR’s Water Wuthmann that the proposal will further reduce gun violence in a state that already ranks among the safest in the country. (Meanwhile, the leading local gun rights group says the bill is “so convoluted” they’ve given up on proposing amendments.)
- The expected passage will tee up negotiations with the House, which passed a similar — but slightly different — bill in October. You can read more about the details and differences here.
And then there were six: Massachusetts is about to lose two of its eight mobile sports betting platforms. WynnBet and Betr plan to withdraw from the state less than a year after they launched (though WynnBet’s in-person Encore casino sportsbook will stay open).
- By the numbers: Roughly 80% of all bets in Massachusetts in December were placed through DraftKings and FanDuel. WynnBet and Betr together accounted for less than 2%.
P.S.— The league-leading Celtics have their annual rivalry home game against the (confusingly inconsistent) Los Angeles Lakers tonight. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. (and it will cost you at least $200 to get in the door).
